Nine out of 10 Shanghai children share a bedroom, if not an actual bed, with their parents, according to a recent survey.

And, the survey revealed, it is not just babies and toddlers some 40 percent of children aged between 12 and 18 still bed down in the same room as their parents or grandparents.

"Such closeness, posing a sharp contrast with that of Western countries, is worthy of our attention," said Yang Xiong, director of the Children's Division of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

"We are considering starting research into this closeness problem," Yang added.

About 1,000 families participated in the survey, conducted jointly by the academy and the Shanghai Women's Federation, which was aimed at identifying new trends among Shanghai's families.

Although the survey found an increasing number of parents saying the moral and mental health of their children was more important than their academic performance, there has been no reduction in the academic expectations parents place on their children.

Compared with 20 years ago, when 60 percent of parents said they would be satisfied if their child got a bachelor's degree, parents today are setting their sights much higher.

Over 80 percent of parents want their children to enter university, with more than half of those hoping their offspring come out with a master' or a PhD.

The pressures of study have already been blamed for mental problems among some local children. An earlier survey found 21.6 percent of middle and primary school children showed some signs of mental illness.

House husband

On a more positive note, the survey found that fathers are becoming more involved in looking after and playing with their children.

Compared with 20 years ago, when only 2.5 percent of children under the age of seven were taken care of by their fathers, now 13 percent of fathers take the strain.

At the same time, the percentage of mothers taking the main role in looking after their children has fallen from 62 percent to 52 percent in the past two decades.

"It has something to do with increasing competition at work in the present society," Yang said.

"At the same time women are showing more ambition in their own career development."

Education within the family has also developed.

Some 46 percent of parents said they taught their children about making money, 30 percent of parents educate their children about drugs, and 17.8 percent of parents said they had discussed HIV/AIDS with their children.

But sex still remains taboo even among young parents.

Shanghai's parents, despite obviously having some knowledge of the subject, are still pretty bashful 76.2 percent said they were embarrassed to talk about sex with their children.

(China Daily November 22, 2005)